Apple has been undergoing significant changes in its product lineup over the years. The Cupertino giant introduced its in-house chipsets for MacBooks. Apple recently launched the Apple MacBook Air M2 with 13″ and 15″ screens. The company has scheduled a launch event on September 12 to unveil iPhone 15 series smartphones. The upcoming series is expected to include the iPhone 15 Ultra, which is tipped to be a premium offering above the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
The MacBook Air lineup is the cheapest offering from Apple in terms of laptops. The introduction of in-house chipsets has impacted a rise in users of MacBooks. Apple offers better CPU and GPU performance without messing up the portability of its devices. A report from Digitimes, citing its industry sources, claims that Apple is working on a low-cost MacBook series. The upcoming low-cost MacBook series is expected to compete against Chromebooks.
Chromebooks have gained massive growth in the education industry owing to their low pricing and functionalities similar to Android devices. Apple seems to be in a hurry to eat up the market share of Chromebooks with its upcoming low-cost MacBook series. The report adds that the upcoming MacBook series will be separate from the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro series. However, Apple will continue to equip the low-cost MacBook series with metal chasing.
The Cupertino giant is tipped to cut down budgets in other areas to keep the pricing lower. The upcoming low-cost MacBook series is expected to make its debut in the second half of 2024. Apple’s manufacturing chain has indirectly confirmed no active manufacturing of its low-cost MacBook series. The upcoming affordable MacBook series might lure many customers to switch from Chromebooks.
However, the pricing of the upcoming affordable MacBook series will play a huge role in its sales. Apple will have to price the device under Apple MacBook Air M1 to fetch sales. The Digitimes report adds that over 33.5 million Chromebooks were shipped in 2021. The online education sector has gained a massive growth post-COVID-19.
Apple will likely compete against the premium Chromebooks with its upcoming affordable MacBook series. The latest Apple MacBook Air M2 with 13-inch retails for Rs 1,14,900 in India. The laptop features a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display with 2560 x 1664 pixels resolution. The display has a peak brightness of 500 nits and a pixel density of 224 PPI.
Apple equips the device with its in-house M2 chipset. The octa-core chipset is paired with up to 24GB of RAM and 2TB of SSD storage. Apple packs a 52.6Wh battery, supporting 67W fast charging tech. Apple also equips the MacBook Air M2 with a 1080 HD camera which is a step up from most Windows laptops. The device also features support for four speakers with spatial audio, Dolby Atmos and a three-mic array with directional beamforming.
